


Raven's Cry

by Serenityinmist



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-30 02:28:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12098694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serenityinmist/pseuds/Serenityinmist
Summary: July 2018, Louisville Kentucky.  A CT scan results in an investigation by the BSAA that soon spirals out of control.





	1. Chapter One

Sitting in her office overlooking the Ohio river at night, Doctor Christina Price stared at the laptop screen in front of her as she tried to make rational sense of the scans she was examining. Both were of two different women, one her patient another whose file had been referred to her from Louisiana. Both were profile, showing the head down to the shoulder. Doctor Price leaned towards the screen, glancing from left to right. If the two scans weren’t labelled with their respective patients Doctor Price would be forgiven for thinking they’d come from the same person.  
Minimising the two scans, Price pulled up the email that had contained the referred scan from another general practitioner. Reading over the email once again, Price skimmed over the pleasantries at the start of the email and looked at the end paragraph. It seemed there was an organisation in Los Angeles that was collecting data on patients such as Doctor Price’s. A quick internet search turned up lots of pictures of big beefy soldiers in full combat gear carrying guns through wartorn villages in Africa and Eastern Europe. One word cropped up a lot in each article that Doctor Price opened – biohazard.  
    Deciding to submit the data with her patient’s details clipped off so that the recipient would only get the scan and nothing else, Doctor Price sent an email to the address she’d been given then shut down her laptop and closed up her office for the night, unaware of how many alarm bells her email would raise when it was opened the next morning.

Heels clicking on the tiled walkway leading to the Research Lab in the basement, Alexia Ashford sipped at a black decaf coffee in a styrofoam cup as she tried to push her blonde hair behind her ear so it wasn’t directly in front of her face. While she was usually early to the office Alexia had been woken at six o’clock by her brother shaking her shoulder with enough force to make the springs on her foldout bed creak. Her mobile, which she’d left on the kitchen table the night before, hadn’t stopped beeping for half an hour. All the message had been was four words - ‘Come to the lab’. Alexia had done the bare minimum to get to the lab in a reasonable state, driving at the speed limit the entire way. Such a message was reserved for two causes. One – an emergency situation such as an outbreak on American soil that required the presence of the entire Science department at headquarters. Two – high priority intelligence that required immediate analysis. Alexia had no idea which as she reached the security gate that led into the Research Lab. Pulling her security card from her pocket, Alexia flipped open the dark purple leather card case that her brother had gotten her for her birthday and held it against the card reader. The two inch thick gates rolled apart letting Alexia see that most of the scientists weren’t in yet, just three of her team were there. As the doors opened the nearest glanced over to her.  
    ”Late night hun?” Alice asked. Alice was the second most senior scientist on the team after Alexia herself and treated the entire team, Alexia included, like her family.  
    ”Wishing this wasn’t decaf.” Alexia murmured as the doors sealed behind her. Finishing off the coffee, Alexia dumped the empty cup into the recycling bin.  
    ”That bad huh?” Alice asked, following behind Alexia as she made a beeline through the open plan lab to her office at the other end of the lab that was separated by a wall of glass. Pulling her keys out of her pocket, Alexia unlocked her office door and flicked on the lights.  
    ”Any idea what the alert was about?” Alexia asked as she dumped her mobile on the desk along with her laptop bag, shrugged her black leather jacket off and hooked it up behind the door.  
    ”Some doctor from Kentucky sent us a brain scan.” Alice said as Alexia walked around her L shaped desk and sat down.  
    ”I assume there’s a reason the computers didn’t just file the information away?” Alexia asked as she pulled her laptop out of its bag, dumped it on the docking station and turned it on.  
    ”It matched a reference scan that we had on file.” Alice said as Alexia’s computer turned on. Typing in her thirty digit passcode, Alexia pulled open her email and found the alert. Opening up the scans, Alexia turned the desktop monitor so that Alice could see the scans as well. Both of them glanced over the scan.  
    ”Jeeze, that’s a lot of growth on the brain.” Alexia commented as she read through the attached email before her mood swung sharply, “SON OF A BITCH!”  
    ”What is it?” Alice asked, shocked at the sudden swearing from the senior scientist.  
    ”Assistant Director Mathison has already tagged the file as ‘no further action’.” Alexia read aloud, “What is the point of beeping me if the AD has already decided there’s nothing to be done?”  
    ”Maybe he put that on by mistake?” Alice reasoned as Alexia grabbed her desk phone and started tapping in a number. When it rang straight to voicemail Alexia slammed the handset down on its cradle before dialling a second number.  
    ”Mistakes like that in this place are rare.” Alexia groaned as she hit a second answering machine, hanging up without leaving a message.  
    ”I’ll go put the kettle on.” Alice said, sensing from the way Alexia’s shoulders were slumped forward that Alexia wanted to be left alone. Alexia rubbed at her right eye as she read over the email chain again. The first email was from a Doctor Christina Price sent to the public email address, second email was the email being forwarded to the science team along with the intel team, the only email address Alexia recognised other than her own being AdaWong@BSAA.NA. Third email from Assistant Director Mathison ordering no further action. Alexia knew full well that while the executive branch of the BSAA had the authority to shut down any investigations or actions, it was highly unusual that such an order would come down with no analysis done whatsoever. Alexia had already tried to call both Ada and Chris Redfield, figuring either one of them or both would know what was going on. Alexia pulled up the booking form for annual leave. So far that year she’d only had three days off beyond the usual public holidays, giving her a fortnight’s worth of leave unused. Reaching for her phone, Alexia pulled up her GPS and set it to Louisville, looking for Doctor Price’s office. A plan was forming in her mind. Spinning her chair around, Alexia tapped on the window and beckoned Alice back into the office.  
    ”Something you need?” Alice asked.  
    ”Something I’m doing.” Alexia said, “I’m going to have a short vacation starting tomorrow.”  
    ”That’s lovely.” Alice said with a smile, “Where’re you going?”  
    ”Orlando.” Alexia lied, knowing if she said her real destination then Alice would know what was going on. If anything happened Alexia wanted the fallout contained which meant her entire team needed plausible deniability. “I’ll have my phone with me so if anything comes up let me know.”  
    ”Of course.” Alice replied, “I’ll just bring the coffee in.” As Alice left the office, Alexia put the scan on full screen then took a picture of her monitor. Pulling up the Science Department’s search engine, Alexia copied the image into the engine and let it run. Within five minutes she had an identical image pulled from the servers, tagged BAKER, M. Skimming through the file, Alexia started to wonder if there was a good reason why the new scan was marked ‘no further action’.

Pulling into the Glenview Medical Center, Alexia parked her rented Fiat Five Hundred and grabbed the manilla folder from the passenger seat. Looking over the small two storey building, Alexia pulled a six by four inch photograph from the folder and pocketed it before getting out of the car and heading into the building. Inside was the usual chaos of a working general practitioner’s office. The cheap plastic chairs, the aging magazine pile featured a stack of Reader’s Digest, notices blowing in the slight breeze from the noticeboards and a receptionist who looked ready to pass out behind the desk. As Alexia walked up to the desk the receptionist gave her a once over before drawling, “Do ya have an appointment?”  
    Alexia held up her BSAA Identity Card, “Alexia Ashford, BSAA.”  
    The receptionist leaned over and stared at the card, “Is you a cop?”  
    ”No,” Alexia said, pocketing the card, “I’m a scientist from LA that a Doctor Christina Price emailed. Is she available?”  
    The receptionist tapped a few keys on the keyboard in front of her, “She with a patient at the moment, if you’d like to wait.” Alexia nodded to the receptionist then took a seat on the far side of the reception area where she could see both the exit and the corridor leading to what Alexia presumed were the doctor’s offices. She was only waiting for five minutes before a tall woman with tanned skin and bleached blonde hair walked out of an office accompanying a frail elderly man who was hobbling along on a polished wooden walking stick.  
    ”Doctor Ashford?” The tall woman called out. Alexia stood up and walked over to her. The woman held out her hand, “I’m Doctor Price.”  
    ”Alexia.” Alexia said as she shook Doctor Price’s hand.  
    As Doctor Price led the way through the corridor to her office Doctor Price asked over her shoulder, “Are you a general practitioner as well?”  
    ”I’m a virologist.” Alexia explained. Doctor Price walked into a small room that was surprisingly sparse, a desk, a few chairs and an examination bed being the only significant furniture in the room. “I received the scan you sent and had a few questions.”  
    ”I could have answered them over the phone.” Doctor Price pointed out.  
    ”Well, these questions needed a personal touch.” Alexia said as she sat down in one of the visitor’s chairs. “I have to say the scan looked troubling.”  
    Doctor Price nodded, “I was troubled too. It’s rare to see someone that ill.”  
    Alexia leaned forward, “How long has your patient been experiencing symptoms.” Alexia pulled a small notebook out of her pocket and flipped it open.  
    ”Two months.” Doctor Price answered without looking at her computer or any notes, “She came to see me three weeks ago and that’s when I sent her to the hospital for the CT scan.”  
    ”Has anyone in her family or social circle been affected?” Alexia asked.  
    ”I don’t know.” Doctor Price said, “I haven’t seen any of the other family members recently and my patient is a bit of a recluse.”  
    ”Doctor Price, I need to speak to this patient and their family.” Alexia said, seeing the doctor’s gaze go from friendly to cold in an instant, “It’s a matter of safety. Theirs and the communities.”  
    ”Do you think it’s viral?” Doctor Price asked.  
    ”I don’t know.” Alexia answered, “We can’t determine that from just a brain scan, which is why I’m here.”  
    ”If they’re infected?”  
    ”Then we will treat them as best as we can.” Alexia answered, “But at the same time we need to isolate and contain the infection. Your patient might need to go into quarantine. The sooner I can evaluate them, the better their chances of survival and the faster the problem can be dealt with.”  
    Doctor Price kept the cold, distant look as she reached for a small stack of blank cards and a pen. Scribbling across its surface, Doctor Price slid the card across the desk to Alexia. “Please help her.”  
    As Alexia picked up the card, her memory recalled a voice she had not heard in years. She’d been ten, going through her father’s belongings when she found a videotape. Her father had recorded it in his study. She couldn’t remember most of what he’d said but one sentence in particular had come to mind from Doctor Price’s choice of words.  
    ”Whether you are on Umbrella’s side or not, please. Help her.”


	2. Chapter Two

Driving down the rough track of dried mud, the Mini Cooper S shaking slightly over the bumpy terrain, Alexia kept her hands loose on the steering wheel as she concentrated on the road ahead. Thoughts of what she was doing kept swirling around in her mind, as they had the entire six hour flight from Los Angeles. Alexia had her BSAA issued smartwatch with the modified wrist strap that had a heart rate monitor strapped to her left wrist. Reaching the small wooden fence that ran around the property, Alexia pulled up and got her phone from the passenger seat. Swiping through her applications, Alexia pulled up the monitor application and set it running. The smartwatch would show her heart rate on its display and also record to the phone. Going into the settings, Alexia set it to broadcast the data to her laptop back in Los Angeles. It was Alexia’s insurance policy, if her heart rate fluctuated too much, her laptop would start beeping, alerting Alfred or Ronnie. Alexia knew Alfred would get her laptop to the BSAA or to the DSO. From there, it was just a matter of having faith that either Jill or Ingrid would come to her rescue or send a missile strike. It was also for Alexia’s piece of mind. Viruses were Alexia’s forte, fungal infections were not. Alexia had no idea what would happen if the worst case scenario came to pass and she ended up infected.  
    Alexia’s plan was simple, stay back, document, if possible contact then report back to the BSAA, bypassing Assistant Director Mathison and going straight to Director Valentine. With hard evidence, Alexia knew there was no way that the BSAA wouldn’t swoop in and clean up the biohazard. Opening the door, Alexia felt her legs were cramped from driving so long. Leaning against the side of the rented Mini, Alexia opened up her phone’s camera app and snapped a photo after checking that geo-tagging was enabled. With a clear shot taken, Alexia sent the photo along with its tagged data to her laptop. Popping open the trunk, Alexia slid the black metal case out of the car before locking the car up. The case had the BSAA logo emblazoned on both sides and contained some basic equipment for gathering samples. What Alexia had really wanted to bring with her was her Beretta 92F tranquilizer gun as a weapon of last resort but going by air had meant that wasn’t an option.  
    Walking up to the fence, Alexia looked at the large house up on a slight hill. From what she could see at that distance, the house was shaped like a giant letter U, with wood panelling on some sections but bare brick and concrete on others. All of the windows were shut, but that was the extent of what could be seen. Turning her head slightly, Alexia spotted that there was a rusty grey metal mailbox affixed to the fence to her left that was overflowing with mail. It seemed that nobody had been collecting the mail for some time and when new mail was delivered it was just being rammed into the metal tube. Walking towards the gate, Alexia saw it was a pair of iron gates at least five feet tall with thick rusted chains wrapped around between the two gates secured in place with a thick padlock. Beside the gates, crudely placed on a wooden support for the fence was an intercom with exposed wires trailing around behind the gate. Pressing the intercom button, Alexia heard a loud metallic buzzing sound before the sound abruptly cut off. Unsure whether it had cut off from time or if someone on the other end had cut her off, Alexia pressed the button again. After getting no response for a second time, Alexia stepped away from the gate and looked around. Thick plants were pushing their way through gaps in the fence, wrapping themselves around the wooden planks. The fence itself peaked at five feet where the gates were but came down to a height of four feet in some places. It wasn’t a smooth decline, rather it was as if whoever had been nailing the fence together hadn’t bothered to check how things were lining up while they worked and had done a rush job.  
    Alexia tapped a brief note into her phone, sending that as a text file to her laptop as well. She figured if anything went wrong, it would be better that someone knew what she had been up to rather than waste time wondering why she was in Kentucky, why she was taking photographs of people’s fences and why her heart rate was so high. Pocketing the phone, Alexia walked towards the lowest point of the fence. It looked like the area around the house was pretty clear. There were a handful of thin trees dotted around and Alexia could see a thick stump nearer the house that someone had been using as a chopping block, complete with a rusty axe buried at least two inches into the stump. Planting her hands on the fence, Alexia pulled herself partway up to see if she was able to clear the fence as well as to glance over the side. There was nothing below her but grass, so Alexia lowered herself down, put the briefcase over the fence first before pulling herself up and over, landing on the grass with little noise.  
Keeping close to the fence, Alexia walked around the perimeter of the house with her phone out. At times the fence got very close to the house whereas other parts it was far away. It looked like whoever had put the fence up had taken as little care about where the posts were placed as they had in ensuring all the planks lined up. When she got closer to the house, Alexia was able to see that the windows were all covered in mold near the top with thin net curtains obscuring the view through the bottom of the windows. Alexia took a few photos of the mold stained windows, thinking that maybe it might be a sign that something was up. Around the back of the house was a large pond, at least fifty feet in diameter. The water inside it was brackish and looked like it hadn’t been cleaned out in a long while. There was also a large metal trailer parked some distance from the house near the pond but it didn’t look from a glance that anyone was in there. As she walked around the fence, Alexia spotted there were plenty of gaps in the planks through which small animals and maybe even a small child could squeeze through. Pulling open the GPS application, Alexia looked for a satellite view of the property. From above, the fence looked even more misshapen than it did on the ground. Saving a copy of the map to her phone just in case, Alexia managed to walk all the way around the property. Seeing her car through the gates, Alexia had the momentary thought of just climbing back over the fence, going home and taking what she had to the BSAA. A small niggle of doubt crept into her mind, there wasn’t enough evidence. Dirty windows and an unkempt property did not a biohazard incident make. The medical evidence she’d got from Doctor Price might help, especially with the photos Alexia had taken, but there was still the fact that there wasn’t a sample. That would be the most conclusive proof of all. Alexia turned back to the house, wondering if she should just go try the door. Perhaps the owner, who from the skim through Price’s notes Alexia had learnt was called Susan Crow, would still be intelligent enough that Alexia could persuade them to let her collect samples. There was always the chance that it had been caught early enough, that the Crows could be spared the fate that befell the Bakers.  
    Making up her mind, Alexia walked towards the house, passing by the thick tree stump with the rusty axe lodged in its center. Heading towards a battered old door that looked like it was on the verge of rotting away, Alexia noticed that the small porch on the left hand side of the house was covered in dust, had been for a good while and none of that dust had been disturbed. No footprints, no tracks from small animals, nothing. Stepping onto the porch, Alexia knocked on the door once. The door started to swing on creaking hinges from the first rap of her knuckles on the wood. Alexia just watched it go, looking into the house. From what she could see, there was a small corridor, with a set of coat hooks screwed into a wooden beam attached to the wall on the left, some shoes under a table that looked as dusty as the porch. Dust was also covering all of the shoes though there were footprints inside the house.  
    “Hello?” Alexia called out, waiting for a few moments for a response that never came, “Hello? I’m Doctor Ashford from the BSAA.” Still nothing. Alexia glanced at the shoes. While there were footprints leading right up to the door, the only footprints on the porch were her own and from the dust on the floor Alexia could tell that there hadn’t been any shoes moved recently. Stepping into the house, Alexia pulled up her phone’s flashlight and shone it ahead of her. Following the footsteps, Alexia found herself in a small kitchen. Barely enough space within for a kitchen table. Two chairs shoved under the table, a mountain of dirty cutlery and plates in the sink. The smell of rotting food and something damp that Alexia couldn’t work out. The kitchen table was littered with yellowed newspapers and a few glossy magazines. Approaching a little closer, Alexia glanced over the newspapers, looking for the dates they’d been published. The most recent one was dated April 15, 2018. Alexia took a quick photo of the table, making sure the dates were clearly legible before sending them to her laptop. Looking around at the floor, Alexia saw the footprints led further into the house. Following them, Alexia came to a small corner of two intersecting corridors. The footprints seemed to go in every possible place, some of them just went right into the walls, a few looked like someone had started to go up one corridor before turning around and heading back the way they came. Alexia snapped another photo, before deciding to follow the corridor to her right. There were no pictures on the wall, though from the way the walls were stained, Alexia could tell there had at least been frames on the wall at some point in time.  
    The corridor ended with two doors, one straight ahead and one to the right. Trying the door on the right first, Alexia found a small room with two couches and a television. The couches were ragged, as if some large animal had clawed and torn them up over a few months, patches of stuffing were visible through the ruined leather and in a few places Alexia could see the wooden frames within the couch had been clawed at as well. Sticking out of the television in the top right corner was a large steak knife, which made Alexia take a picture and send a text note to her laptop along with it: signs of violent disturbance – may already be too late.  
    Having seen enough, Alexia decided it was better to collect samples on her way out, as quickly as she was capable of. Placing the briefcase on the side of the leather couch, Alexia popped it open and pulled out a handful of specimen containers, the lot of which she shoved into her pocket where she could get at them. Snapping the case closed, Alexia carried it in one hand as she left the room. Walking back down the corridor, Alexia noticed one of the windows near the door that would lead her back into the kitchen. Dropping the briefcase on the floor for a moment, Alexia pulled out a sample container and pulled it open, snapping the seal around the top of it as she did so. Pulling out the sterile swab from the container, Alexia ran the swab across the mold on the window, running it back and forth until she was sure the entire swab was coated at which point she pushed it back into the container and sealed it up. On her way through the kitchen, Alexia ran another swab on the newspapers and a third on the kitchen counter. Placing the swabs in the briefcase, Alexia started to walk out of the kitchen when she stopped. The door through which she had entered was shut. Walking up to it, Alexia tried the handle. The door was locked and glancing over it, she couldn’t see any sign of a latch or anything she could use to unlock the door herself. Alexia realised she’d either need to find the key, find another way out of the house or break the door down. With a glance at her watch, Alexia saw her heart rate had gotten a little elevated but not enough to be a major cause for concern. Certainly not enough to trip her fail safe. In any other circumstance, Alexia would have taken a few deep breaths to try and bring her heart rate down while she considered what to do next but with the state of the house, Alexia wasn’t keen on gulping down mouthfuls of stale air mixed with rot and who knew what else. Instead, she tried to just rationalise. Chances were, there was at least one other way out of the house and if all else failed Alexia knew she could always just try and climb out a window or even break a window if she was desperate.  
    As it was though, something about the way the door was now locked made Alexia on edge. Someone had locked the door, that much she was certain of. Alexia also knew she hadn’t seen or heard anyone, so whoever it was was at least intelligent enough to know someone was in the house who shouldn’t be there and capable to evading someone. Kneeling down a little to have a better look at the floor, Alexia saw there were four distinct sets of footprints that had been made recently where dust hadn’t had time to settle back into them, two of which were in the shape of her own shoes and the other two sets made with bare feet. With not much choice, Alexia headed back for the kitchen, but with care to keep her movements as noiseless as she was able to. Alexia found herself thankful that the wooden floor wasn’t creaking at all. That at least wasn’t giving her position away to whoever had locked her in. Heading towards the kitchen doorway, Alexia crouched down and peeked into the room, figuring that anyone would expect to see someone enter the room standing up and so may not notice someone peeking from a lower height. She couldn’t see any sign of anyone in the kitchen, but a glance at the floor told her that the set of barefoot prints she had seen at the door continued into the kitchen, skirted around the kitchen table before Alexia couldn’t see where the new tracks were amongst the older tracks. Moving into the kitchen, Alexia took care to check each corner, making sure nobody was lying in wait to attack her. With no sign of anyone else in the kitchen, Alexia moved towards the other door out of the kitchen. Another glance at the footprints on the floor told Alexia that whoever else was in the house had gone straight ahead from the kitchen. So, Alexia decided to turn to her right and try the door she hadn’t gone through before. It opened into a large room with large French style windows. Running across the room, Alexia tugged at the handle of the nearest window. The metal handle creaked but did not open. As she went to try the next window, Alexia felt an arm wrap around her throat, her chin right in the crook of someone’s elbow. A rag was shoved over her nose and mouth as Alexia felt something flat strike into her back. The rag felt wet against her skin and as she breathed Alexia realised what the rag had been soaked in. Feeling her muscles slacken, Alexia felt her heart racing away in her chest as her vision dimmed. The arm went away, sending Alexia tumbling to the floor. A figure stood over her but Alexia wasn’t able to tell anything about them. Within moments, she lost consciousness and lay still on the wooden floor.

**Author's Note:**

> This is an idea I had after playing Resident Evil Seven involving an AU that I have been roleplaying for about five years now where both Alexia and Alfred Ashford are still alive in modern day Los Angeles with Alexia working for the BSAA and Alfred working for the DSO. Going to try and update once a week


End file.
